| Influences | Category 1 - Dead, White Men
These guys are to me as Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Adams, etc. are to Americans who care about important things.
(Their whiteness is irrelevant, I think. I simply liked the parallel with the way America's founding fathers are often described. Many on my list are Jews. Do they count?): Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Groucho Marx, Steve Allen, George Burns, Phil Silvers, Jimmy Durante, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, Danny Kaye, Frank Sinatra, Garry Moore, Bill Cullen, Don Adams, Jack Webb, Ozzie Nelson, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Frank Tashlin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, William M. Gaines, Red Skelton, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Ray Goulding, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Johnny Carson, Ross Bagdasarian, Peter Sellers, Alan King, Jack Paar, Ernie Kovacs, Mel Blanc, Paul Frees, Frank Nelson, Allen Sherman, Desi Arnaz, Sheldon Leonard, Art Carney, Lucille Ball (Oh, wait -- she's a woman!), Flip Wilson (Oh wait -- he's black!), Richard Pryor (Also black.), Dick Cavett (Oh, wait -- only his career is dead. I better start another category . . . )
Category 2 - Living People (as of this writing), Any Sex or Ethnicity:
Monty Python's Flying Circus (with the exception of Graham Chapman, who should be considered to be in Category 1), Robert Klein, George Carlin, Jerry Lewis, Soupy Sales, Norman Lear, The Smothers Brothers, Dick Van Dyke, Brain Wilson, Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Ed. Weinberger, Woody Allen, Chuck McCann, Arnold Stang, David Letterman, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Grant Tinker, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Dick Martin, Jonathan Winters, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Arte Johnson, Sid Caesar, SCTV (collectively), Stan Lee
Okay. I don't wanna lose my whole day doing this. I'll come back to it later.
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